Feminist Science Fiction

Starting with the assumption of feminism that “women and men are inherently of equal worth” (Freedman 7) many writers of feminist science fiction use the genre’s inherent liminal position to discuss issues of boundary, transgression and change. The topics addressed by these writers engage the social construction of our identity, be it determined by class, race, gender, sex or age. The essay presented here thus establishes first a discussion of what “feminist science fiction” is and sets out to do, before then following the development of feminist writing from Mary Shelley onward, through waves of feminisms and up till today. The question, sometimes brought out by critics, whether we still need a category (and thus a separate page here in the project) of feminist SF is firmly answered by Ritch Calvin: yes, we still do, because feminism is changing, as is our human condition and as long as we are not fully equal in every component of identity, we will still need feminist SF.